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THE

GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY

OF SOUTH AFRICA – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

IV

INTRODUCTION

Jannie de Villiers

As a young man I greatly admired all the old

ooms

in the industry who always

sounded as if they knew everything and could say exactly what would happen in

the future. Considerably later in my career I realised that agriculture had an inher-

ent inability to convert by itself from the controlled system to a free market. People

and events from the outside eventually contributed to the metaphorical plug of the

controlled system finally being pulled in 1997. The 1937 Marketing Act was revoked

and was replaced by a new act. This led to major changes in the grain industry.

Not only individual grain producers had to adjust, but organised agriculture had to

make dramatic adjustments as well.

During this transition many meetings were held. Preparation for these meetings

was extremely important. Many of the meetings assumed a character of ‘bravado’:

‘We are going to this and that them’, or ‘we will never allow them to…’ was heard

everywhere, until reality kicked in and many compromises had to be made to give

the grain industry – and ultimately food security – a firm footing in South Africa.

There were three main parties around the tables: The producers, the buyers and

the new government. Each topic had its unique partnerships. Sometimes the pro-

ducers were alone, with their backs against the wall and sometimes it was the

government and producers against the buyers. You never knew exactly with whom

you were going to negotiate about what.

After the new policy framework had been settled, the adjustments for role-players

and organisations started. Producer organisations had to find their new role and vi-

sion, agribusinesses virtually all adopted a new company appearance and producers

had to learn the very hard way in the new environment – particularly with respect to

marketing. However, what is crystal clear is that everybody adjusted extremely well

to the new circumstances. It happened by fits and starts, but the new environment

was soon defined and adjustments were made.

New structures were created, like the different grain and oilseeds trusts, the

South African Grain Information Service (SAGIS), the Southern African Grain

Laboratory (SAGL) and the South African Futures Exchange (Safex) and adjust-

ments were made to the Crop Estimates Committee to continue the services pro-

vided by the boards in the free-market environment. These organisations and

institutions all had their own teething problems, but the leaders of those transi-

tion years ensured that world-class institutions were established. This is not a

subjective opinion – each is highly regarded internationally in its own field.

In the process, the different industry organisations also found their own role in the

new environment. Producers’ needs suddenly changed and the services rendered

to them had to be adjusted. The culture in the organisations also had to change. It

The Afrikaans writer Langenhoven once said that if you

want to look ahead, you first have to look back at where

you came from. This research and recording of Grain SA’s

history is aimed not only at remembering the history and

giving recognition to the leaders of the previous generation,

but also to look back as organisation to help us find the path

to the future.